Also, this WILL NOT contain spoilers from A Memory of Light's Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, or Chapter 11. Please refrain from posting any spoilers from A Memory of Light in the comments section. The A Memory of Light spoiler discussion board can be found here.

There are a lot of fans who got…impatient…with Perrin and Faile's plotlines from Winter's Heart and all the way to Knife of Dreams. Because of this, there is some resentment towards the two, and many hope one or the other will die in the Last Battle. So, we'll look at evidence on both sides and see where their fate may lie.

First, let's look at Perrin. He's important, one of the three ta'veren necessary to ensure victory at Tarmon Gai'don. It's stated several places that he and Mat are both needed to give aid to Rand. Last week's post talked about this a bit, so I won't go into detail about the possible roles Perrin will have. Suffice to say, he has to be there. And if he's taking part in the battle, there is a chance he won't survive.

However, it's pretty simple to determine that Perrin will survive. In The Eye of the World, Min had a viewing about him:

The Eye of the WorldChapter 15, "Strangers and Friends"

"The strongest things I see about the big, curlyhaired fellow are a wolf, and a broken crown, and trees flowering all around him."

Tenobia, Shield of the North and Sword of the Blightborder, is the current bearer of the Broken Crown, but there's foreshadowing that she might die during the Last Battle (Towers of Midnight, Chapter 51, "A Testing"), or at least before producing an heir (Path of Daggers, Prologue). Because of this, Davram Bashere will succeed her to the throne of Saldaea. And, as there's foreshadowing that Bashere will die during the Last Battle (Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 24, "A Strengthening Storm"), his heir, Faile, will inherit. Saldaea might be a nation in which an outlander married to the ruler becomes equal—that is, Faile would be Queen, but Perrin could be King—so Perrin would be the wearer of the Broken Crown.

If Tenobia and Bashere die during the Last Battle, Perrin must survive it in order to receive the Broken Crown. I doubt he would be considered the King of Saldaea the exact moment the current ruler dies, so there must be a coronation, and that would certainly take place after the Last Battle.

There are a few other things to mention about Perrin. He's got a Power-wrought hammer that's going to come in handy during the Last Battle. I don't think it will make him invincible, but it did do more damage to Trollocs than a normal hammer would (Towers of Midnight, Chapter 41, "An Unexpected Ally"). He's also a very skilled Dreamwalker, so if the Battle does go into Tel'aran'rhiod, as many people believe, he will be almost invincible there, too.

My last piece of evidence might be a bit of a stretch, but I'll bring it up, just in case. When Perrin and Elayne speak of Perrin's "rebellion," they reach an agreement, naming him Steward of the Two Rivers, and saying they will encourage their children to wed (Towers of Midnight, Chapter 47, "A Teaching Chamber"). In Aviendha's second trip through the glass-column ter'angreal, she sees her grandchild, Oncala, and Elayne's grandchild, Talana. If Perrin's and Elayne's children marry, Talana could be Perrin's grandchild as well. I think that would explain the "not very pretty, but very regal" (Towers of Midnight, Chapter 49, "Court of the Sun") comment by Oncala. The mix of Two Rivers blood and Saldaean blood in one of Talana's parents, and Aiel and Andoran in the other, will probably equal something that's not very pretty.

So, Perrin must survive to get the Broken Crown and to father the child who becomes the parent of Talana.

Now, let's discuss Faile. I think most of the same arguments hold for her as for Perrin, especially the part about him fathering a child. But she will also need to be alive for him to take the Broken Crown. I think they'll have to be crowned together. However, this might be a point against her surviving. Perhaps that is why Perrin has the Broken Crown, not because they are equal rulers, but because Faile has died, leaving him to rule Saldaea alone. There is the chance that simply being her husband gives him the right even if she dies, too.

Another point for her survival: I don't think Faile will be doing much fighting during the Last Battle. Perrin has finally learned Saldaean ways, and he's become more comfortable with proving he's "stronger" than her. He'll tell her she can't fight, and she won't.

On top of that, we had three books worth of plotlines in which Faile's life was in danger. One thing I've learned from literature is authors don't repeat plotlines with the same characters. Even looking at the three times Rand fought Ba'alzamon, each scene was different: the first time, Rand simply cut the black cord; the second, Rand and Ba'alzamon dueled with swords in Falme; and the third, they fought with the One Power. So, even though the theme is the same, the execution is different. Faile spent so much time with a vague sense of danger that I don't believe she will face too much in the Last Battle.

I think that is sufficient proof for Perrin's survival, and just enough that I will say Faile will live too. With the quickly approaching arrival of A Memory of Light, I'll try to squeeze in a few more of these predictions. Next week, we'll examine the Royal Line of Andor—everyone from Elayne to Galad—and see if they're likely to live or die. Thanks for reading.

24 Comments

not repeating plot lines?
It happens all to often in this series.
Elayne does something stupid, puts her life in danger and kills other people in the process, only to be rescued. -- How many times was this not repeated?

@mashiara,
you are not going to like it,but i am going to say it anyway:
the "dynamic duo" almost ruined the entire series for me,and it started way
before winter heart.
perrin alone is barely passable,but him and zarine together is just terrible.
i finished reading cot almost a year after its release date,and every chapter was a battle between reading and snoring....half the book is about perrin doing nothing and the other half is about egwene doing nothing.
at that point i almost gave up,almost,and to tell you the truth,i kept on with the wheel of time only because of one character :rand al thor.
one of my favorite books in the series is the fires of heaven,because robert
jordan sent the "dynamic duo" to their honeymoon,and they are totally absent from it.

by the way,perrin can not be a king of anything because he is a commoner,
if zarine will be queen of saldaea,he will be prince consort nothing more.

Crossroads of Twilight could have been better. If something happened.
I like Perrin as a Character. I think he's the wolf king and the Steward of the Two Rivers. I do not like it when he embarks on a 1,000 page quest to save his wife, with repetitive methods.

The only way I see this hammer saving Perrin is if he accidentally kills her with it and subsequently retrieves his manly bits from the jar on the mantle. I am not disagreeing with your theory. You are probably correct. But haters gonna hate. LOL!

Ah. Ya'll are too tough on Perrin. Granted, he's much more interesting since he's come to accept his role as a leader. And yes, the quest to rescue Faile went on WAY too long. CoT only took place over the course of a few days, and for my money, if Perrin wasn't going to rescue Faile in that book, they should have not been in it at all.

But since Faile has been rescued, the two of them have:
1. Rescued 1 former and 1 sitting Queen (while rescuing Faile)
2. Driven off the Shaido once and for all (while rescuing Faile)
3. Managed a temporary truce with the Seanchan (also during Faile's rescue)
4. Learned the truth about Morgase
5. Reunited Morgase with her children
6. Definitively dealt with the Whitecloak charges against him, including getting closure with Bornhold and Byar.
7. Brought those same Whitecloaks into the Last Battle on Rand's side
8. Battled Slayer on Slayer's turf and terms, and beat just shy of killing him.
9. Lost Hopper for good
10. Learned the truth of his humanity/wolfbrother balance
11. Got himself a power-wrought weapon
12. Inadvertently shaken up the power struggle between the Forsaken by mucking up the plans of Graendal AND Mesanna (and Moridin by default) RIGHT BEFORE the Last Battle
13. Oh, and Faile finished off the Mesema for good.

That list is pretty impressive to me. The frustration I felt toward Perrin and Faile from ACoS to TPoD wasn't really about their characters, but more about the plot pacing of those books in general. The pacing of Perrin and Faile's story SINCE her rescue has more than made up for it, in my humble opinion.

And for the record, I agree with Mashiara that Perrin survives, and becomes King of Saldea, whether or not Faile survives, but also for the record, I think she'll live too. What I really want to know is: How does Perrin finally beat Slayer. Their last battle was E to the P - I - C. And their final battle can only raise the stakes...

Or maybe it's because Perrin is the character with which I self-identify the most.

Jack, feel free to hate any characters you want. I won't judge you. :) I don't agree, but I can see how some people have a hard time with Perrin/Faile. At the same time, the story would be boring if there weren't characters that people didn't like. A well-balanced story needs all sorts of personalities, not just people we love.

However, I will argue about Perrin being King of Saldaea. Some countries--like Andor--only have queens, but others have a king and queen on equal status--like Lan's parents in Malkier. The only problem is that most of the current rulers aren't married: Paitar of Arafel is, Easar of Shienar was, Tylin of Altara was; everyone else is single or we don't have enough information. So, we don't know much about what their King/Queen relationships are. But we can't assume just because Andor has a Prince Consort, that every other nation does.

Yes, it seems that both Perrin and Faile will survive the Last Battle, although I fancy the version in which Perrin dies and reapears when Mat blows the Horn of Valere. I wonder if it would still be possible for him to get the Broken Crown, but it doesn't seem likely. Even if he would just die for good, I have to say it would be better than having a descendant who would marry Elayne's descendant. Too bad the stupid selfish bimbo got pregnant and therefore has to live.I have much more sympathy for some of the Forsaken. As old Chinese used to say, it's better to have a wise enemy than an idiot for a friend.

Before I read Towers of Midnight, my friend 'spoiled' it for me by saying Mat and Perrin die at the end of it...so reading the entire book expecting them to die sort of psychologically prepared me for their deaths, though I really doubt that any of them will die - and I hope neither do. Not going to lie though...after The Shadow Rising the only thing Perrin did that made me hopeful that he survives the last battle is when he shows up Egwene in TAR. I completely agree with jack of shadows' comment for the record...except it was Crossroads of Twilight which almost ruined it for me.

Slayer turning to the Light..... interesting!!! My money is on Cyndane though, but if it is Slayer..... just tie up Lan if he sees him, and he finds out he is also Isam, lol!!! Then there is Rand..... what a magnificent mess!!!!

Faile rescue mission was a torment, yes. And I didn't like the woman before her captivity, yes (although I liked Perrin right form the beginning). But after that she changed and I actually started to like her... well, at least I'm willing to give her a chance, TG will be quite an exam. I also think that Perrin became awesome, finally - just like Rand, he emrbraced his destiny. Therefore I hope none of them dies in TG, even though, like New Ashaman, I I never regarded Perrin's broken crown as a 100% prediction of his future kingship. I tend to interpret it rather as his bond with a royal family of Saldea (I mean it could be either this or that and there's still a place for Perrin to die).

We should note that Min didn't see Perrin wearing the Broken Crown, only the crown itself. It could be argued that the Crown is something that would be important in his life, which it is since he marries into the family.

Gwenifer, I know I can be 100% WRONG on all of this! I simply enjoy pointing out pieces of the texts that stuck with me and make me think things will happen a certain way. Of course, Brandon is Aes Sedai trained now, so his answers let us believe things but he doesn't actually say anything. So, I'm not going hop on the "Perrin will die" bandwagon. At least not yet. :)

Mbuehner, you are absolutely right. However, it's very similar to the crown Min saw in Darlin's aura, a unidentified crown which later turns out to be the crown of the Tairen King. So, with that parallel, I'm leaning towards Perrin actually achieving the crown.

True, but Min saw the crown on Darlin's head, and she mentions it that way twice:"I saw the crown on his head, a thing with a sword on the front of it""To her eyes a crown suddenly appeared on Darlin's head"

On the other hand, in TEOTW she mentioned the laurel crown as one of the images around Rand, not describing it on his head. But it was in a laundry list of images the first time they met, so its hard to say if she was being literal or just talking in passing. They werent diagnosis her visions as she later would in conversations.

@mashiara,
i studied laws of succession in some of the oldest and currently existing
monarchies, e.g. japan,uk and denmark, the spouse of the reigning
monarch is never a ruler,just a person with a fancy title.
the wife of the emperor of japan is an empress consort,and the husbands of
queen elizabeth and queen margaret are princes consorts.
well,i understand that things can be different in randland,but still,i dont think
perring can be king of saldaea.
in my opinion,the same rules apply to mat,his marriage to an empress does
not make him an emperor.
my deepest condolences to the state of saldaea,if by any misfortune the
"dynamic duo" will become rulers lolololol.

William of Orange became the ruling sovereign based on his marriage to Mary, Phillip II of Spain ruled jointed with Mary I. Both required a lot of negotiations with parliament and certain restrictions.

mbuehner, you are absolutly right about Darlin's crown! I remembered that incorrectly. Sorry! But, as you said, the crown of Illian was just displayed above Rand's head. And when Min sees the crown above Elayne, it never specifies that it was on her head, either:

"..she said she saw a crown, and it was the Rose Crown of Andor."

I don't know anything about rulers, so I can't say anything based on fact. But many parts of this story were inspired by real life, so Robert Jordan may have based all the nations on real courtly traditions.

What about Mat? He is a commoner and has become the Prince of Ravens. According to Fortuona's thoughts, Mat could potentially want to assassinate her to ascend to the throne. Which means a spouse has the ability to reign. And Elayne granted Perrin titles and stewardship, above even other Andoran Lords. Which means he is not a commoner anymore. So the possibility of Perrin wearing the Broken Crown and being King is there.